A woman is murdered, placed in a green canvass military style bag, and left in a ditch In the winter of 1991, a grim discovery was made in Virginia Beach, Virginia, bringing to light the tragic end of Karen Ann Wheeler's short life. On January 16, a construction worker happened upon a green military-style duffle bag discarded in a ditch along the 700 block of General Booth Boulevard. Inside, authorities found the body of 21-year-old Karen Ann Wheeler, a white female with dyed blonde hair and blue eyes.
The state medical examiner would later determine that she had been the victim of a homicide.
Wheeler was last seen alive on November 29, 1990. She was known to frequent the oceanfront area of Virginia Beach. Described as thin, standing about 5'1' tall and weighing around 120 pounds, she had a noticeable scar on her left hand. Her life had been a troubled one; she had dropped out of school in the seventh grade and battled a cocaine addiction. Her struggles led to time in detention centers and rehabilitation facilities as a youth, and later, jail time for offenses such as petty larceny and fraud.
In the days leading up to her disappearance, Wheeler had expressed a chilling premonition to her family, telling them she believed someone was going to kill her. Her siblings described the crowd she associated with as violent and dangerous. Just two days before she went missing, she had been released from jail on bond after being arrested for prostitution. The investigation into her murder revealed she had been strangled.
Despite the passage of over three decades, the murder of Karen Ann Wheeler remains an unsolved cold case. Law enforcement officials in Virginia Beach have periodically revisited her story, hoping to generate new leads that might finally bring her killer to justice. As of now, no arrests have been made, and no suspects have been publicly identified in connection with her death.
